Category: SOCIAL/ONLINE

Amid all the discourse about what makes video games special, we can sometimes forget their manifold links to other art forms. Consider professional wrestling and its narrative design. Xavier Woods, an educational psychologist and a WWE wrestler, jokingly described himself as a “professional LARPer” and a “bard who buffs his party while fighting.” Woods, who keeps a popular gaming YouTube channel called UpUpDownDown, is often pictured holding a colorful trombone in photos with his tag team, The New Day.

Blizzard has introduced a new report-like option to Overwatch, but instead of being used to call out unscrupulous behavior the new endorsements system focuses on rewarding players for their positive interactions instead.

Documents have surfaced detailing Blizzard’s 2016 patent application for the ‘Play of the Game’ highlight selection system used in its multiplayer hero-shooter Overwatch. The filing was published on the website for the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) earlier this month and, as of late March, is labeled as a ‘docketed new case, ready for examination.’

Two years after creators expressed concerns over being properly compensated, YouTube is finally rolling out new alternative payment methods including a $4.99 channel membership and features similar to Twitch's subscription service including special emojis and subscriber badges.

– Scott Mercer, principal designer at Blizzard, writing about how Overwatch's matchmaking works.Blizzard's Scott Mercer recently posted a fairly in-depth post about Overwatch matchmaking on the company's forums, and it makes for intriguing reading if you're at all curious about matchmaking tech.

Twitter has put together a nifty breakdown of the most tweeted about games, moments, and companies from E3 last week, a welcome roundup since the company reports 15 million E3 related tweets hit Twitter during the event.